In yesterday’s meeting, after being inspired by a book about the story of three men who grew up in the inner-city and made a pact to support one another get through med school, The Know youth wrote mission statements for their lives:
Gracie, 16
To inspire and lead my younger siblings on the right path to success; To show them not to let people judge them by their appearance or sexuality; To inspire other people’s lives by living my life to the fullest; To show people if they have a dream they should go for it; To inspire people to know they should be able to love anyone no matter their sexuality.
Jesse, 16
To discover who I am in Christ while admonishing people I meet daily; To inspire, encourage, grow and enjoy life through faith.
Arena, 16
To get out of the status quo placed on minorities by going to school and getting a great job.
Kevis, 17
To establish the assets needed to help out the community and increase my vocabulary; To pursue an acting career, and if I succeed then that would prove to people anyone can do what they dream.
Laqusha, 20
To be a positive influence on everyone I meet. I want to make young girls feel beautiful. I want to encourage young people to defy status quo and let them know their past doesn’t determine their future and that they don’t have to be a product of their environment.
Angelina, 15
To learn and find out more about the Hmong people, also to have a better understanding of Hmong culture. I would then like to teach it to others, especially the younger generation and other people so the culture won’t be lost.
Anna, 16
My mission statement for life is to achieve in everything I want to do. I want to inspire people to never give up and to think positive even if their life is not going good. Life is worth living and love is the key! Some say love isn’t for everyone but that’s not true. Love is for everyone and is found in the most biggest things or the most smallest things! I believe it’s up to the youth to get the message across. To start young is to achieve! Youth voices are strong and deserve to be heard. Youth have the most love inside of everyone. With youth, life will change. It will change little by little, like a baby learning how to walk. It takes baby steps to change people’s opinion. I will help the community. I will change how stereotypes, hatred, and giving up on life seem to increase every year. I will fight to help youth learn that life is worth living. I will change how life is not good.
LaKenya, 16
To be better than my parents and do things in my favor, not depending on others and staying independent.
In 2006, over 25 youth began participating in weekly after-school writing workshops where they congregated in the hallway of a two-story building in West Fresno and learned the essentials of creating media and telling their stories. The group evolved over the next five years and is now proudly recognized as The kNOw Youth Media.
Through our program, we create opportunities for our youth participants, who in turn create long-term positive change in their communities. Our approach weaves youth development and youth media innovation to produce our biannual youth publication, multimedia projects, and community forums.
The kNOw began as a project of New America Media, which was the country’s first and largest national collaboration and advocate of 2000 ethnic news organizations. In 2018 The kNOw became a project of Youth Leadership Institute.
